Let’s face it, when the topic of aging demographics comes up in a university cabinet meeting, the vibe usually shifts. Half of the room starts discreetly checking their own retirement apps, and the other half gulps down more caffeine, mentally preparing for another depressing slide deck about the enrollment cliff.
Over the past decade, we have started moving from a demographic pyramid, with the younger population forming a wide base and the older population on top, to a demographic pillar, with a more equal distribution of people across all age bands. In fact, the US Census Bureau projects that by 2030, which is only four years away (apologies for the existential dread), 20% of the U.S. population will be over 65.
While the slowly shrinking supply of teenagers is an obvious concern for higher education, on the flip side, a massive, wealthy, and intellectually hungry demographic has been quietly assembling on the other end of the pipeline.
Welcome to the Longevity Economy – a demographic update potentially worth $118 trillion. Perhaps we need to shift our view from degrees as a “set it and forget it” microwave oven from an infomercial: something you set once at age 18 and wait for it to start dinging, with a fully cooked meal, at graduation. Instead, could higher education look at something more like a 60-year curriculum, with touchpoints across a lifetime?
A Reality Check on the Retirement Myth
We used to have a very simple three-stage life: you learn, you work, buy a set of expensive golf clubs you never actually use, and then you spend your remaining years aggressively arguing with a smart thermostat that refuses to believe you’re cold. These days, people are living longer, staying healthier (or trying to), and realizing that 30 years of leisure is actually really boring. They’re un-retiring at a clip that makes a steering committee’s three-year timeline look like a frantic high-speed chase. They’re starting second careers, launching businesses, or serving on non-profit boards. But here’s the rub: if you’re re-entering the workforce at 64, being The Wizard of WordPerfect or the last living soul who knows how to un-jam the mimeograph isn’t going to get you very far in the age of ChatGPT. You need upskilling in AI, modern data analytics, digital marketing, and more.
Higher Ed is uniquely equipped to host the second act of the intellect, but only if we stop acting as though curiosity goes into cold storage the moment the tassel moves from right to left.
The Course Catalog Cookbook
We all know the drill: launching a new initiative typically involves a five-year plan, a capital campaign, and at least three committees dedicated to choosing the right brick color for the new building or name for the new program. But programs related to the Longevity Economy don’t require a groundbreaking ceremony. In fact, most institutions probably already own 80% of the necessary ingredients for the “recipes” for new programs in their vast course catalog “pantries.” Institutions don’t need new buildings, and they barely even need new staff. They’re likely fully stocked with most of the curricular ingredients needed to design an excellent menu of program offerings that will appeal to the market right now.
- The MBA for Senior Living: Do you have a Business School and a Health Sciences department in your curricular refrigerator? Congratulations! You have all the makings for a great fusion dish: an MBA for the massive senior living industry. Or you could be like UBMC and offer a BA in Management of Aging Services.
- AgeTech: Do you have Design/Tech faculty and a Psychology department? Great! Whisk them together to create an AgeTech User Experience track. Put your Design students and your Tech students in a room together. Their mission? Design technology for people with money (the 65+ crowd) who want a fine-dining tech experience, rather than an Early Bird Special. The world has enough apps designed by 22-year-olds who think the only thing an 80-year-old needs in their technological spice cabinet is a stale container of Bigger Buttons. Check out USC’s Master of Science in Technology and Aging.
- Geroscience: For years, our approach to aging has been the academic equivalent of a 3 AM diner shift: Gerontology is the weary waitress and short-order cook just trying to scrape the griddle, keep the customers upright, and ensure the lukewarm coffee doesn’t run out before closing time. But Geroscience is more like the executive chef at an upper-echelon farm-to-table restaurant, obsessing over the cellular quality of the produce before it even hits the pan. You don’t need to build a brand-new kitchen to get in on this; if you have Biology and Data Science in your cupboards, you’ve already got ingredients for a Longevity minor. And consider the “tasting menus” being developed at USC’s PhD in the Biology of Aging and Northwestern’s Human Longevity Lab. They’re proving that with the right science, we can stop managing the wilt and start preserving the harvest.
By getting creative in your curricular kitchen and trying out a combination of the brilliant ingredients already sitting in your course-catalog pantry, you can create new program recipes that could land you a seat at the best table. Yes, Chef!
The University as a Brain Gym
Think of your campus not only as a holding pen for underslept teenagers frantically cranking out term papers and gobbling cold pizza, but also as a wide-open intellectual playground for older people who are seeking to re-engage in a life of the mind. Research shows that learning new things is the ultimate neuroplasticity hack: a cerebral re-fueling station. When you put a 60-year-old and a 20-year-old in the same classroom, magic happens: the 60-year-old gets a cognitive boost, and the 20-year-old realizes that life doesn’t actually end at 30.
And let’s be honest, a 65-year-old student is the only person in the room who has definitely done the required reading.
A Perfect Circle
Let’s talk about the physical campus. University Retirement Communities (URCs) are a new frontier. Schools like Purchase College are bringing seniors onto or near campus, and the revenue they generate (roughly $2 million a year) goes straight into student scholarships.
The seniors can enjoy the “fountain of youth” experience of being around and/or mentoring students, and the students get their tuition subsidized by the very people they’re sitting next to in HIST 202: Learning From Past Mistakes.
Embracing the “Silver Tsunami”
The Longevity Economy is already here, and it offers something far more invigorating than a set of pristine golf clubs or the quiet surrender of a 4 pm dinner reservation. You already have the faculty, the labs, and the courses. Let’s stop treating the “silver tsunami” like a grease fire that’s going to torch the departmental budget. Instead, treat it like the ultimate kitchen expansion in an elegant restaurant: the one where the silent partner is 72, has a flawless credit score, and knows that knowledge is a feast to enjoy.
